State of Soul
by Verybadgirl
Summary: When Draco steals from Snape, he didn't realise how precious this item was or what damaged it could inflict on his life and on the lives of those around him. New Part: Hello Darkness, My Old Friend
1. Maybe is a Five Letter Word

Prologue: Maybe is a five letter word.  
  
Was that a sound? A footstep?  
  
No, just the wind beating against the window.  
  
Draco sighed softly before continuing on his journey. There was no chance of him getting caught. None at all.  
  
He screamed slightly when the window that was banging flew open with a roar.  
  
Clutching his chest, he felt his heart slow down. He listened over the sound of the gale. Listened for his impending capture. Someone must have heard his scream. A moment passd and nothing. He was lucky. He pushed the window closed and made his way down the dark hallway.  
  
Maybe he was not as confident as he thought but there was nothing he could do about it now. True, he always felt much safer with his friends cum bodyguards surrounding him. Not that he would ever admit that to anybody, not even them. Not having them here did not have any baring on the situation. Their bulk would just get in the way.  
  
Maybe this was a bad idea.  
  
Or maybe you are just a pussy with no balls.  
  
Draco grited his teeth and plowed on through the darkness. Or green-ness. At least the levigospell worked. The fact that his eyes had turned hyper green for the duration of the spell was not expected but you can't have it all. Just had to remember to close his eyes if in trouble. Maybe that was not a good idea after all...  
  
You're diverging Draco. Think about what you have to do.  
  
Carefully scouting the area around him, he spied no cats or Professors or ugly groundsman. At least someone liked him up there.  
  
He tiptoed to the door and opened it. It gave easily, surprisingly not locked, which did not sit well with Draco's suspicious nature. Therefore he did not enter straightaway. Pulling out his wand, he held it straight and pushed the tip into the empty room. He was momentarily blinded by pulse of light that erupted in front of him, sending reams of harmless energy up his wand, energy that was sure to have killed him if he just walked in.  
  
Draco stumbled back drunkedly, his eyes tightly shut, waiting for the pain to ebb away. He had expected Snape to put some impressive booby traps but he never thought his potions master would dare to try anything that could seriously injure or eventually kill a student. On the other hand, there was always the other hand to look at.  
  
Snape was a man of habit. Whilst his inner turmoils would always be a secret to all, his outer most passions are there for the would to see. He is biased, luckily towards to himself and his house. And he guards his possessions with great furver, the more priceless the artifact, the more elaborate the safeguards he places around it.  
  
Of course, Snape never expected his prize student and the smartest wizard in his year to want his priceless possessions.  
  
When his sight finally returned, Draco stood and walked over to the door frame. It was a barrier spell, obviously, the small space connecting the hallway to the classroom electrified. Draco had no idea how such a highly advanced spell was accomplished but he had some idea how to remove it, even if only for a short period of time.  
  
He figured since the air was pulled into a field of positive energy intended to hurt, all he had to do was introduce the right amount of negative energy to effectively short circit the system. Snape would have obviously built a failsafe spell into the barrier but Draco was fairly confident he could over-ride it for at least a minute.  
  
And a minute was all he needed.  
  
Stepping as close to the door frame as he dared, Draco pressed the tip of his wand to the outer most layer of the barrier. His coloured vision flared as tendrels of light moved over the air, outlining the spell.  
  
"Neutralise."  
  
Sparks flew around him, lighting up the dark hallway and the classroom beyond. All he was really worried about was if Snape had an alarm configured to the barrier, alerting him of any tampering. This he had no idea of and could never know unless Snape made a sudden appearance. He had little time.  
  
When the sparks had subsided, Draco tentatively placed his wand into the air again, his eyes shut tight just in case. But all he could feel this time was the harmless snap of an electric shock.  
  
Draco grinned beneath his black mask. Too easy.  
  
His wand disappeared as he entered the room, his body tingling from the numorous shocks caused by the semi-neutralised barrier. He had to hurry.  
  
Making his way through the familiar class room in his eery green vision was unnerving, but he never paused once, to intent on his eventual prize. He moved beyond his teachers desk, to the large cabinant situated behind it and opened it unflinchingly.  
  
One thing he knew was that Snape had way to much confidence in himself to think anyone could get past the barrier. Draco would encounter no more traps.  
  
Ignoring the numerous phials of bubbling fluids and animal parts, Draco went straight to a secret compartment located behind the rat's entrails. Pushing the panel, the rat's entrails disappeared, replaced by a small, ornate woodern box. Draco grinned again, his mouth pulling wide over his face with the greedy snigger.  
  
He placed the box in his tight fitting, black clothes, replaced the panel and return the doors to their rightful place. If Draco's calculations were correct, Snape would not know what happened until after school the next day.  
  
Half running out of the classroom, Draco practically slammed the door was careless glee. The hard part was over, his prize was won. Gettong back to his house was as easy as his herbology final, perhaps easier...  
  
His thoughts were interrupted by a collision with... air?  
  
Air that spoke?  
  
As Draco rubbed his head from the accident, he looked around himself warily but he could see no one, through he was sure he heard someone make a sound. Suddenly mistrustful of his environment, Draco's nerve left him. His limbs turned to goo as he waited for his doom. Of course, nothing happen. Still, better not take any chances.  
  
With that thought, Draco hotfooted it his back to the dungeons, back to his private room and his safe, warm bed.  
  
Once inside and sure he was not followed, he removed the spell on his eyes and lit the candles. Draco sat himself at his desk, took the box from his clothes and layed it delicately on the desk. He ran his fingers over the warm wood, warmed by his pale skin, and opened it with an air of grace.  
  
Lying on a bed of red velvet, a silver charm holding a green gem brighter than Draco's enchanted eyes. He lifted it out and let the fire enter it to create patterns that danced around the room. His heart's desire was fulfilled.  
  
At least for now.  
  
For what Draco wanted, Draco always got. By any means necessary. 


	2. When Silence Screams

AN: Keep it up, it may just be worth it.  
  
Part 1: When the silence screams.  
  
Hermione sipped her coffee and sank further into the armchair. The quiet echoed around her, the screams of dozens of children just a memory at this hour. Griffindorr common room had never been so peaceful to the sixth year girl. Knowing that at any moment, two boys would burst through the portrait hole and ruin her peace, she savoured the feeling. Hermoine was glad the three of them did not fit under the invisiblity cloak anymore. It meant she had probable cause to say it was not a good idea if she went with them an another so called adventure.  
  
It was true. She was getting to old for this. Sure, she wanted to save the world and fight the good fight but, she figured she would be better off doing it in a lab. A lab where Hermione the book nerd could loose herself day in and day for the rest of her life and die an old woman with too many cats. Yes, that was her plan. Leave the physical stuff to Harry.  
  
Harry. Harry Potter.  
  
He and Ron were off doing what they called a patrol but what Hermione suspected to be just plain mischief making. She was worried. Ron would do pretty much whatever Harry told him to do, as long as Harry didn't grand stand. And what Harry wanted to do these days was down right malicious.  
  
As a rule, Hermione hated when a psychologist blamed a person's childhood for the mistakes they make later in life. 'My mother left me when I was too young to remember, boo-friggan-hoo,' but, lately, she had cause to doubt her evaluation.  
  
Harry's Godfather died. His last real family. And Hermoine believed that to be really true. Sirius was his family but now, every one in his family was dead. The Dursleys obviously do not count.  
  
Hermione winced at the thought of Harry's... whatever you would call them. If there was pureblood bigotry in this world, then the Dursleys were the exact opposite. Hermione never thought people could be like that, so ignorant of a world that they are so closely connected to. Her parents were always interested to know things about her life, asking questions when they did not understand something but these Muggles simply refused to care.  
  
Hermione shook her head and rose from her seat, placing her empty mug on the table beside her. The silence that was so comforting now unnerved her. The boys should have been back by now. She was worried for two, equally compelling reasons.  
  
Number one: The boys were caught by a teacher, or worse, Snape but any would do. They would get punished, the cloak taken away thus loosing a great assest for a foolish reason. They would probably loose about a gazillion house points as well. Always bad.  
  
Or...  
  
Number two: They explode themselves in the process of pranking... whoever, just fill the blank with the appropriate name, causing them to die and rendering the cloak un-usable thus loosing more than one great assest.  
  
Hermione moved over to the fire and warmed her suddenly cold blood. It was time she spoke to... Ron... about Harry's behaviour. Yes, that would be a good starting point. To tell you the truth. Harry had been a little scary lately...  
  
She was pulled from her thoughts by muffled laughter.Hermione recognised it straight away and opened the portrait door before thay had a chance to wake the Fat Lady.  
  
"Shush," she whispered to the night air, feeling a presence move past her and over to the fire. The muffled laughter was still there, though they were actually trying to stifle it. Not really working.  
  
Hermione grimaced disapprovingly as her friends revealed themselves.  
  
"Blimey it's cold," Ron said as he appeared, his fit of laughter ebbing away as the heat warmed him.  
  
"Tell you what though," Harry replied as he folded the cloak awkwardly. "It is going to be worth it tomorrow. I can't wait to see their faces... and their hands!"  
  
That did it for the two boys, both succombing to the thought and letting waves of laughter roll out of their mouths. Hermione shook her head once more, for a different reason this time and moved over to Harry.  
  
"What did you do?" she asked as the boy cleaned his fogged glasses with his jumper. He smiled.  
  
"You didn't want in 'Mione. So you will just have to wait till tomorrow like everyone else," he answered, his face wide and bright.  
  
But Hermione felt a dark shadow crawl through her heart. Harry's laughter was infectious but, all the same, it failed to reach his eyes. Dull, they were and frighteningly fearless. But it was not the fearlesness that came with bravery, it was what came with foolishness. She understand and was scared. Scared for her friend's very soul.  
  
"Hey, Harry." Ron said, not quite cutting through Hermione's thoughts. "Did we run into something? We did hey? Outside Snape's rooms. Strange. I could have sworn I saw eyes, green eyes floating in the air. What about you?"  
  
Harry became somber suddenly.  
  
"I saw nothing of the sort, but we did bump into something. Probably was Peeves. Stop getting yourself scared, Ron. Floating eyes. Now there is a piece of shite if I ever heard it. I'm going to bed."  
  
And, at that, he left. He left leaving two very unnervedfriends in his wake, one scared of the unbelievable and one scared for absolutely believable. 


	3. Marvelous, I would say

Part 2: Marvelous, I would say.  
  
Snape was not happy. Not only that, he was worried.  
  
I shit you not.  
  
He was in trouble. Big, stinky trouble and he could not think of anyway he could remedy it.  
  
It was gone.  
  
IT being the necklace. The emerald necklace. The enchanted emerald necklace.  
  
Snape could not understand. His traps were flawless. It was inconceivable that anyone could get past them, especially when 99% of the residents at the school could barely float a feather.  
  
"Pull yourself together man. Think. Who could it have been?"  
  
It was Snape's habit to talk to himself when he was alone. Of course, no body knew because when you are alone, no body is around to discover your secrets.  
  
"There is always an exception, Severus, and you know it."  
  
"Someone must have been spying on me to find out about that necklace. Only Albus and myself know."  
  
His brow crinkled in quick recognition.  
  
"Potter. Who else thinks it is their born and bred duty to spy on me and steal my possessions? You else would be arrogant enough? But does he know? How can he? It was new information. Not even the key members of the Order know yet. Think, think. No, he can not know, but he soon will if young Miss Granger helps him. I must tell Albus."  
  
In a flash, Snape was gone, his dark robes billowing behind him an a horror movie cliche kind of way, not knowing the chaos spreading through the rooms of his house at that exact moment.  
  
The Great Hall was buzzing when Hermione arrived the next morning, a little earlier than usual because of the lack of sleep she had gotten. None-the- less, the half filled tables created the sound equivalent to a crowd at a quidditch match. At first she could not think why. Her gaze wandered down her table but her friends had yet to appear. Too early for them.  
  
Hermione proceeded into the great room, the enchanted ceiling pouring the morning sun onto her sallow skin. It cheered her to see the moring for her night was so long and filled with bad thoughts. She was expecting her conversation today with Ron. No matter what, she was going to get him alone. The sun rising was both a blessing and a curse.  
  
Inspecting her surroundings a little closer than before, her mouth dropped open slightly as she realised what all the fuss was about. The Slytherin table was empty. Completely. Not a soul to be seen. Her pace slowed as her eyes roamed to the teachers table. Snape was also absent, as was Dumbledore.  
  
Peering into the faces of her fellows students seated in the tables around her, all she could see was glee. Smiling mouths and glowing eyes. Whatever had happened, no one really seemed to mind.  
  
As Hermione neared her seat, she saw Ginny sitting, having an animated conversation with Dean. She spotted Hermione an instant before the sixth year sat down.  
  
"Isn't marvelous?" Ginny cried. She was smiling so much, Hermione could see her molars.  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"I have no idea. I swear I have been here for 20 minutes and I have seen not hair nor hide of any Slytherin."  
  
"Snape neither?"  
  
"I didn't think to check but I don't think so. I think it's marvelous."  
  
"I think it's suspicious."  
  
Ginny looked her older friend oddly. She obviously did not understand Hermione at all.  
  
When two voices entered the room laughing with palpable amusement, Hermione knew she was right. Because they started laughing before they even entered the hall.  
  
Harry and Ron shone as they walked down the aisle, nodding to their school mate as they were kings acknowledging the servents. But, as before, there was no light in Harry's eyes.  
  
"Ladies. Gentleman. Isn't it a beautiful day?" Harry asked as he sat down.  
  
Ron answered before any of the rest of them had the chance.  
  
"Absolutely smashing I would say, dear chap."  
  
The boys laughed uproariously at this and quickly dug into the substantial breakfast layed before them. Ginny, naturally, joined in straight away, none the wiser.  
  
"Isn't it marvelous?"  
  
"I agree, dear sister," Ron said as he stuffed a pancake down his throat. Hermione was not too sure if he even swallowed his food sometimes.  
  
"Though very surprising," Harry added and almost lost his breakfast as what was once in Ron's mouth flew over the table as he cracked up again.  
  
"Eewww!"  
  
"Ron, that is... argh..."  
  
"Sorry," Ron said sheepishly.  
  
Hermione, though barely noticed for she had pulled Harry aside.  
  
"Harry, what did you do?" she asked menacingly.  
  
"Tut, tut," Harry answered, trying to keep the amusement out of his voice. "Not supposed to tell, not until the Grand Finale."  
  
"What is that supposed to mean?"  
  
"A magician does not reveal his secrets but if you are good for the rest of the day, I might just let you in on it. Just kept an eye on their hands."  
  
Harry winked and went back to his food. Hermoine could barely touch hers. Her stomach was doing wild sommersults as she watched her dearest friend slowly kill himself. 


	4. Sticks and Stones

Part 3: Sticks and Stones  
  
Their first class for the day, Potions, was cancelled due to lack of interest from both the Slytherin students and their head of house. This, of course, was hilarious to Harry and Ron. Neither could be cajolled into revealing their secrets, despite all of Hermione's best efforts.  
  
"Just wait," Ron said finally. "You will see soon enough."  
  
The bulk of the morning past quickly, Professor McGonagall pushing them into line before too long. By the time lunch arrived, Hermione had no hopes of seeing any Slytherins as they had yet to appear all day.  
  
Clearly, though, she was wrong.  
  
The Slytherin table was full, full of sour faces and grim stances. Hermione's eyes wandered down to their hands and, to her surprise, most of them were bandaged to the point of just being stubs. None of them looked happy.  
  
A lot of focus was given to the centre of the table, where Malfoy sat. His hands, too were covered neatly in white linen. He was looking at his plate disdainfully. At first Hermione did not understand but then she realised it was because the boy could not eat his food. Malfoy was unable to hold any cutlery.  
  
Hermione looked at the bandages with horror as her friends began to laugh, for she could see another colour there. It was deeper and stood out firmly once you could see it. Red. Blood. It was blood.  
  
Hermione stopped dead, three feet from her seat and looked numbly around. She could not believe this. What they did. They did this? Such a major act of... terrorism? She turned on her heels and walked briskly out of the hall, hoping to catch Harry and Ron before they entered.  
  
She was in luck. There they were, walking slowly, keeping away from the main crowd and talking softly as they did. Hermione stalked right up to their faces, with out saying a word.  
  
At first the boys were confused but from the look on her face, they could tell they were in trouble.  
  
"What did you do?" Hermione asked accusingly.  
  
The boys smiled suddenly and looked at each other approvingly.  
  
"So they're in there then?" Ron asked, looking over her shoulder at door.  
  
Hermione did not answer. Harry smiled.  
  
"So it worked then?" Harry asked but before she could answer, he was walking away from her to the Great Hall.  
  
Hermione ran up and stooped him, a foot from the door and spoke in hushed tones.  
  
"Tell me."  
  
Harry grinned and looked at Ron, who shrugged and tried to look inside.  
  
"I thought you would have figured it out by now. Not as smart as everyone thinks?"  
  
Harry paused and let his words sink in. Ron stopped smiling and looked at his friend in shock.  
  
"I... Well, we. I can't really take all the credit. We charmed the Slytherin's front door. If they tried to get out, it would cut them. If the same person tried once too often, off comes a finger or two."  
  
"Fingers? You never said..." Ron stammered as he looked at his friend in a new light.  
  
"Morality takes the fun out of most things Ronniekins. That would be why I didn't till little miss suger and spice here. Too moral. Would have run and told a teacher."  
  
Hermione looked at Ron.  
  
"Ron, you are a prefect!'  
  
"I didn't know..."  
  
"He knew enough," Harry interrupted.  
  
Hermione looked at Harry and felt a tear fall down her cold face. Anger and resent bottled up inside her. She could barely talk, yet she managed to utter a single word.  
  
"Why?"  
  
Harry stopped smiling at stared straight at his best friend. The world slid away, Ron disappeared as Harry looked at her with anger and hate. Too much.  
  
"Why? WHY? Because they killed him! Hermione, you were there, you saw. They killed him, their families killed him. There is nothing left in me now, everything is gone. All I see is red eyes, snake eyes,in my dreams, in my waking hours as well. Why, Hermione? Because they deserved it. I would kill them if I could. Every last one of them."  
  
His voice choked at the last. But only from whispering. The words were not shouted. It was worse. They were hissed at her, in a language she could understand.  
  
He spoke in hate and those words cut like splinters. 


	5. Tis The Season

Part 4: Tis the season  
  
The sounds of christmas could be heard in the halls of Hogwarts. Dozens of trees were brought into the school, yet to be decorated but the feeling was still there none the less. Unfortunately, this cheer did not reach the potions master.  
  
"Professor, I do agree with you that this is an urgent matter but I disagree with your way of handling it," Snape said evenly, not meeting Dumbledore's golden eyes.  
  
"Now Severus, there are crave concerns that the boy will not survive this year, but since we have not yet discovered the true purpose of the necklace, I see no threat. It was just... intuition, is that what you said?" The old man chuckled silently as he rose from his chair.  
  
"But it was stolen, headmaster, that must mean something."  
  
"It means someone saw it. That is all. Afterall, it is a very beautiful piece of jewellery."  
  
Snape watched in frustration as Dumbledore moved over to a large book and began thumbing through it.  
  
"Sir, I can not sit by and watch this. We must act. The sooner the better."  
  
"We must do nothing Severus. All will work out in the end. Now, if you don't mind, I have some work to do."  
  
And, with that, Snape was practically kicked out of the room. He could still hear the old man humming 'Jingle Bells' as he walked down the stone steps.  
  
Snape was quite confused by the way Dumbledore was acting. Confused but not at all surprised. It was not the first time the wise wizard had been vague in his arguments but in the end, he was always right. Snape just hoped this time it was not an exception.  
  
Draco entered his room with a huff. He was annoyed. Annoyed at this time of year, annoyed at the happy students that infected the corriders so thoroughly and, most of all, annoyed at Miss I'mthebestsoshutup Granger.  
  
Never in his dreams, but always in his worst nightmares, did he expect her to leap so far ahead of him in his studies. He had the best tutors, the most expensive tools and still the little whinger was beating him.  
  
And she was doing it fair and square!  
  
Draco had paid the finest detectives (by Draco of course he meant his father) to spy on her at all hours of the day. Many insects lost their lives in an attempt to bring down the comely witch. But they never had anything to report. Did this girl ever do anything wrong?  
  
He slammed his books down on the table and pushed his long locks out of his eyes. He really needed a haircut.  
  
After staring at the wall for what seemed like hours, Draco forced himself to his feet. And on to his stomach.  
  
A few moments passed as he scouged around under his bed and what he pulled out was unremarkable in every sense. It was a large clear jar filled with buttons. Draco smiled as he climbed on to his four-poster bed and placed the jar in front of him.  
  
A tap of his wand to the top of the lid was all that was needed to open the jar and, upon spilling it's contents on the comforter, revealed just more buttons.  
  
Draco dumped the jar beside him, not giving it another thought, and turned to the buttons. He leaned over them, waved his wand in a star shaped pattern and spoke softly:  
  
"Revealae."  
  
Blue smoke shot from the end of his wand, causing the star to materialise for a moment in the air, then it settled down, spreading over the buttons. Then, it disappeared.  
  
Nada. Nothing happened.  
  
Draco grimaced at this development, about to try again when the buttons suddenly changed forms.  
  
Some combined to become a beaded comb, others became a honeyed coloured quill. Rings and bobbots. Earrings and doddads, some of the items must have cost the owner a pretty penny. Others had just sentumental value. It did not matter to Draco, if he saw it and someone else owned it, then he had to have it.  
  
Amoung the clutter was his newest aquisition, the gold necklace.  
  
He picked it up gingerly, not sure about its delicacy and held it in front of his eyes. This was his finest prize yet. And it was the hardest to gain access to by far. But worth all the pain.  
  
Looping the long chain around his neck, he rose and placed himself in front of his tall mirror.  
  
"Not really your colour dear," the mirror said, good heartedly.  
  
It was right. Gold never did suit him, he and his family wore silver but he did so love the green. The way it glowed around his pale skin, made him look more... alive. Made him feel alive too.  
  
Strange.  
  
He unclasped the necklace, eyeing it suspiciously and threw it on the bed. There was a knock at the door.  
  
"Enter."  
  
The open open slightly and a slim head peaked through. It was a boy, not yet a teenager by the look of him, and he looked as through he was about to wet his pants.  
  
"M.. Mr Malfoy?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
The boy figited bervously and could not look him in the eye.  
  
"Your clothes sir, they just got back. The house elves just dropped them off..."  
  
"Tell Crabbe or Goyle to bring them up. Now leave. I'm very busy."  
  
"If you please sir, he did not mean to do it. He just gets nervous around new people."  
  
Draco raised his head at this new development.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Nero, my pet salamander, he... well, lost control of himself sir."  
  
"And?"  
  
"On your clothes."  
  
"What?"  
  
"He didn't mean to, honest, it's just, you know how salamanders are fire dragons."  
  
Draco was getting tired.  
  
"Yes, I know."  
  
"Well, that's what he... pees. Fire."  
  
"And my clothes?"  
  
"Ruined, sir."  
  
Draco took a step towards the young boy, who seemed likely to repeat his pets actions. Draco'sface was empty of emotion, devoid of all animation. The boy coward behind the door, his eyes squeezed shut, awaiting his impending doom.  
  
"It's alright."  
  
The boy opened his eyes in shock.  
  
"W... what?"  
  
"It's fine. Don't worry about it, it was not your fault."  
  
Draco pulled the door open all the way and patted the boy on the back. The boy was so scared, he flinched at Draco's touch.  
  
"Go tell my boys to bring them to me. No harm done. Off with you."  
  
The boy did not need to be told twice. He was off before you could say salamander whiz.  
  
Draco chuckled softly as he closed the door.  
  
Wait.  
  
He chuckled?  
  
Draco stopped moving and look back towards the door. Did he just halucinate? Or did he let that boy off scott free? He was a child, Draco could have taken him easily.  
  
Draco put his hand on his forehead. No fever. Maybe he was just tired. He shook his head with bisbelief. Nah, he must be getting sick. He would never do that in his right mind.  
  
Draco looked back towards his bed, ready to pull the covers down and climb into his safe haven when he saw the stolen goods lying there. Moving his wand over them, they instanly changed into the buttons. Draco could still see the outline of the necklace as he brushed them back into the jar.  
  
He thought nothing of them for the rest of the night. Why should he? It was just a stupid necklace. 


	6. Hello Darkness, My Old Friend

Part 5 Hello Darkness, My Old Friend  
  
The hall was alight with the animated chatter of the whole school. There was so much to talk about. The christmas holidays were coming soon, the harsh homework from various teachers, and, of course, the Slythrin incident.  
  
Hermione, on the other hand, just stared blankly into space.  
  
Ron was worried about her. He was not a smart boy, nor intuitive or anything really but he did understand pain when he saw it. And Hermione was in pain.  
  
It was the kind of pain that was kept bottled up inside, like a frizzy drink, until it exploded from too much shaking and pressure. Ron did not really want to see Hermione explode, he had seen it before and it was not pretty.  
  
Ron's eyes left the empty face and moved to another empty spot, this time literally. Harry's empty chair.  
  
Harry had pretty much fallen off the face off the earth since his outburst. He rarely appeared at lunch, only appeared at dinner out of obligation and in classes he was more of a ghost than the actual ghosts were.  
  
Maybe Ron was naive. Hell, of course he was. It was one of those, "If you do it, I will too" relationships, leaning heavily towards Ron doing what Harry told him too. This made Ron angry. He was no flackie...  
  
He shook his head with glum realisation. He was a flackie. This was proved by the way he took Harry's orders, unquestioned, about the Sytherin prank. For this he was ashamed, burdened and strangely quilty.  
  
No one knew this of course. Everyone who knew had kept their mouths shut, not that many people knew anyway. The fact that they had gotten away with it unpunished was unsettling. Ron kept expecting Snape to leap out at him, accuse him of the travesty, point his wand and, well, hello darkness my old friend.  
  
But nothing like that ever happened. For intents and purposes, they got away scott free.  
  
Not that Ron considered writhing in a pit of self blamed guilt scott free.  
  
A terrible crash pulled him from his shame. He looked up and over the table to find a sight so odd it almost made him rub in eyes just to make sure.  
  
Neville Longbottom, sitting at his usual spot, holding a metal plate inches from his eyes.  
  
Everyone was silent for a moment, Ron could almost hear the chirping of a cricket in the background. Then it began.  
  
All at once, the hall ignited with the most loathed form of communication in the world: gossip. Neville, though, just sat there, looking at the plate with apparent mistrust.  
  
Ron leaned into a conversation that was happening next to him.  
  
"Did you see that? Absolutely unbelievable!" Pavarti Patil squealed, looking at Neville, in what Ron suspected was a new light.  
  
Ron leaned in further, waiting for what he missed to be explained, but they just seemed to be avoiding it, so he just asked.  
  
"What happened? I wasn't looking."  
  
Lavender Brown's face seemed to switch on at this question, as if awaiting the chance to retell the tale.  
  
"Well, we were just talking, you know, about usual stuff, Snape being a prat, homework, usual stuff, when, out of nowhere, a plate came flying at Neville..."  
  
"Like a frizbee," Dean Thomas interupted (Ron didn't know what a frizbee was but it sounded painful).  
  
"Whatever. It seems one of the Slythrin boys charmed it to come flying across the room. Probably Malfoy, if I was betting. Anyway, I don't know whether it was supposed to be aimed so high as to, like, chop of his head but, it didn't matter, because a slip second before the plate meet it's mark, Neville caught it."  
  
She was interrupted again, this time by Pavarti, so she did not seem mind as much.  
  
"It was like, whoose and bamn!" (She animatedly re-enacted the scene as she spoke, getting appropriate ohhs and ahhs in the appropriate places).  
  
"What was the crash?" Ron asked, interested by the perculiar event.  
  
"Ohh, Neville knocked over a glass as he brought his hand up. Some things never change, I suppose," Lavender laughed.  
  
Ron nodded absentmindedly, looking back at Neville, who in turn was looking at his hand. Several students were patting him on the back but all Neville could do was look at his hand.  
  
Ron opened his mouth and turned to say something to Hermione but he stopped short when he saw the most curious girl in school still staring into her own private oblivion.  
  
Hello darkness, indeed.  
  
AN: Thankyou to those who have reviewed. It is appreciated, believe me. The more reviews, the more I will be inspired! So please keep them coming! And 'Hello darkness my old friend' is a reference to both simon and garfunkel and stephen king. 


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